I graduated Serbian Literature with Comparatistics. During my first year of college we were studying about Serbian Folk Literature. I didn't expect this, but - I fell in love with it!
Before the college I didn't know much about our Folk Literature, and those things I knew seemed boring and outdated, but I was so wrong! I just didn't know enough and I didn't understand all those literary works.
I want to share with you some of the poems that fascinated me the most, but let me introduce you first to our Folk Literature in general.
Serbian epic poetry was mainly composed by unknown authors. In the most of the poems the main theme is some historical event since we had a turbulent history so people told stories and made poems about it to help them go through everything.
The gusle is a famous instrument, people used to sang to it, and it was usually played while telling epic poems.
VUK KARADZIC
Vuk Karadzic is the most important figure in the history of Serbian Literature. He had done so many things that I can hardly decide how to start a story about him.
First of all, he reformed the Serbian language!
He was the author of the first Serbian dictionary!
He translated the New Testament!
He collected poems, fairy tales, riddles, legends - so he made an astonishment contribution to the Serbian Folklore! We might not know about many of those literary works if he hadn't written them down!
Filip Visnjic is also known as Serbian Homer. He was blind, but he had an amazing poetic gift. Vuk Karadzic cooperated with him and wrote down many of his poems.
Marko Kraljevic is definitely my favourite Serbian hero and the most popular hero of Serbian poetry. It is believed that he trully existed - there was a prince called Marko Mrnjavcevic, but the epic figure of Marko Kraljevic had been made by combining a lot of different figures and legends.
The most important is the fact that he meant a lot to the Serbian people because they believed he could beat anyone, he protected the innocents. During the Othoman Emperior people needed that one special hero - as a consolation.
I love the poem Marko Kraljevic and Musa Kesedzija because in this poem Marko shows how amazing he is. Imagine the heroic world, most of the heroes think that there is no one stronger than them, no one better. In this poem Marko beats Musa Kesedzija, famous hero too, and guess what does he do next?
He actually admits that he beated the hero that is better than him. He doesn't say that confidently, proud, no, nothing like that. He says that with great sorrow asking himself whether he deserved the victory! How often we see that?!
This is one of the poems I also like so much.
Strahinja has a beatuful wife, Andjelija. But, while he was away, she was kidnapped by a Turk named Vlah Alija. Strahinja talked to the Andjelija's father and brothers - none of them was on her side. She is now another mans wife, Strahinja should not go and take her back. Wow! Your own father and brother don't care at all, they even promised to find a new wife for Strahinja!
But, Strahinja loves her and believes she loves him too, so he disobeys advices of Andjelija's family and he goes to take her back. He finds her and fights with Vlah Alija. In one moment during the battle, Andjelija actually helps Vlah Alija and not Strahinja because she believes Strahinja will kill her if she goes back to him, that was a traditional punishment. Strahinja forgives her for this too and takes her back with him.
This poem is really one rare love poem among historical and poems about famous battles. Strahinja loves his wife and doesn't care about what anyone else thinks!
Even Andjelija couldn't believe he would forgive her for being another man's wife for a while, but, what can we say, that is a true love!
I hope you liked this story about epic poems. Serbian epic poems had a great reception mainly in Europe. Did you know that Jacob Grimm began to learn Serbian so that he could read the Serbian poems in the original? He was not the only one - Goethe did the same thing!